I wanna be like Dan
OK, so it doesn’t rhyme, but it does tell you that Dan Simmonds is my latest literary hero. I read Endymion early this year, having got it second hand and not realising – because it was not made clear on the front or the back – that this was a “500 or so years in the future of [other series]” type book. It wasn’t completely necessary to have read the first – I muddled along quite well – but it would have made life a bit easier. And also not meant that as I read the first two, Hyperion and Hyperion Falling, that I had these weird deja vu things happening (which, if you know the book, is quite a funny little in-joke). Nonetheless… I read what was effectively the third book; almost cried when I finished it because it was so beautiful, because there were two before and one after to read, and because the second-hand bookshop had none of them. I got the first two at Borders a little while ago, and I just finished the second… it is magnificent… I actually don’t think they’re quite as good as the third, but maybe that’s my rose-tinted nostalgia; I’m going to read it again soon anyway, before I read the fourth and because it will make so much more sense now.
Anyway. Highly recommended. I comes under fantasy/scifi, but is not tech-heavy (a few weird concepts, but they’re not vital to understanding), and personally I don’t think the story itself is all that fantastic, in the genre sense of the word.
Algae and snails and plants (oh my)
I feel like I haven’t written about the tank in ages. I think the less light is doing good things for our alage issues, but not sure about the plants; they don’t seem overly happy, but I’m not sure whether this is a light issue or it’s the after-effects of the algae infestation. I’ll leave it a couple of days – over the weekend – and see how it looks then. I’m going to have to do some serious aquascaping I think.
Someone accused me of not writing much about Ajax recently (J then claimed I write about him more than I do about anyone else… possibly, but he is incredibly interesting). Last night, for the general delectation of a 2.5 year old, who didn’t fully appreciate it, he decided to a pull a Floating Stunt. I was suitably impressed, anyway. He was balancing on a lily pad-like leaf right at the top of the tank, and then all of a sudden… he wasn’t on the leaf any more. He was just floating around, easy as you please. Love that neutral buoyancy. Love that snail.
The tank still feels a little bare. All the fish are about the same size – I think this is the main problem. I feel we need some quite different looking fish, preferably on the larger size I think. Maybe gourami, maybe silver dollars… J wants angels, of course, but a) I am still a little traumatised and b) I haven’t really seen nice ones recently.
Randomly Yours, Alex 